From one of Denmark's most revered authors a startlingly original novel about a migrant's fate
told across several generations This is the story of a young woman who is spirited away to
St. Petersburg from Copenhagen by a lovestruck admirer. When she dies after the Revolution her
ashes are carried back to Denmark igniting a chain reaction of further stories told and
retold by the women in her family against a shifting ground of meaning. We meet murderers and
fable-like characters such as the hilarious and unsettling Viktor Blanke who manages to
seduce not one but three generations of mothers and daughters. Natalja we discover cannot be
held in one place. Rather than giving in to the tragedy that befalls her she wills herself to
become someone else reinventing her family's narrative one irresistible tale at a time.
Tantalizing and full of wit this remarkable shape-shifting novel is available in English for
the first time. Translated by Denise Newman
